Exhibition - Katherine Bernhardt
I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?
Canada gallery
Exhibition: 11 January - 25 February, 2023
Katherine Bernhardt. I can't promise I'll try, but I'll try to try, 2022
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 120 x 248 in (304.8 x 629.92 cm)
Courtesy of the Artist and Canada Gallery
Opening: Wednesday, January 11
Katherine Bernhardt's work is dizzying, intriguing, colorful and simultaneously nonsensical. The themes of her work are endless: Crocs, Pikachu, mushrooms, ETs and floating Swoosh. For her latest show, the St. Louis-based artist chose to portray America's favorite rebel, Bart Simpson, in a boldly manner that is in itself cultural gold.
Bart Simpson is displayed like never before in the Canadian Gallery in New York. It's understandable that at first glance, Bernhardt’s paintings are humorous, as many paintings depict Bart as he moons the viewer. Bart’s mid moon stance is Bernhardt’s primary motif through this exhibition. But beyond the bold scenes that is shown on her canvas, Bernhardt opens up an interesting dialogue about color and semiotics as she mixes high culture with local char, commenting on many archetypes of American pop culture.
Despite getting into trouble, "Bart is a good guy," wrote one gallery publication, "loyal to his friends and family. It might be an overstatement to imagine Bart as Bernhardt's replacement. However, it feels appropriate to think of these characters as companions. There's a lot to enjoy in this piece, including a dizzying array of visual sparks that give it a sense of urgency."
Using striking imagery and exploring Bart as a symbol of rebellion, Bernhardt creates a visually compelling and thought-provoking exhibition. Her work also features the Pink Panther and Garfield.
Seymore Butts, 2022
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
48 x 60 in (121.92 x 152.4 cm)
The double parabola of Bart's yellow tush in "Seymore Butts" is framed by a puddle of Day Glo pink spray paint and washy purple, calling to mind the gauzy abstractions of Color Field painting. The tension between beauty, shock, horror, and humor never strays far from the surface of Bernhardt's paintings. There is much to her work, including a dizzying array of visual sparks that give Bernhardt the freedom to make her life and memories dazzlingly real.
About:
Katherine Bernhardt (b. 1975, St Louis, Missouri) is an contemporary American artist living and working in New York. She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1998 and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, in 2000. Bernhardt’s recent solo exhibitions include DONE WITH XANAX, Canada, New York, NY(2020); Big in Japan, NANZUKA, Tokyo, Japan(2019); Watermelon World, Mario Testino Museum, Lima (2018); Concrete Jungle Jungle Love, Lever House, New York, NY (2017); Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (2017) and Contemporary Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO (2017). Her work has also been included in significant group exhibitions, such as We Fight to Build a Free World: An Exhibition by Jonathan Horowitz, Jewish Museum, New York (2020); Animal Farm, an exhibition curated by Sadie Laska at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich, Connecticut (2017); NO MAN’S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection, Rubell Museum, Miami, which traveled to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (2015-2017); among others. Her paintings are held in public collections including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; the High Museum, Atlanta; the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; the San Antonio Museum of Art, TX. She also runs Dragon Crab and Turtle, a gallery in St. Louis.
Canada New York Gallery
Canada New York Gallery is located at
60 Lispenard Street
New York, NY
T: (212) 925-4631
E: gallery@canadanewyork.com
Sources: https://www.canadanewyork.com/exhibitions/2023/im-bart-simpson-who-the-hell-are-you/
